BACKGROUND: Myxococcus xanthus is a Gram negative bacterium that can differentiate into metabolically quiescent, environmentally resistant spores. Little is known about the mechanisms involved in differentiation in part because sporulation is normally initiated at the culmination of a complex starvation-induced developmental program and only inside multicellular fruiting bodies. To obtain a broad overview of the sporulation process and to identify novel genes necessary for differentiation, we in ...[more]

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Project description:In response to starvation, Myxococcus xanthus initiates a developmental program that results in the formation of spore-filled multicellular fruiting bodies. Here we have used cDNA microarray analysis to determine changes in the global gene expression at different time points of the developmental process. The expression of nearly 900 genes was found to be altered at least two-fold during development as compared to vegetative cells. Genes encoding proteins with typical vegetative functions such as protein synthesis and energy metabolism were transcriptionally down-regulated in the early stages of development. Among the 430 genes transcriptionally up-regulated during development genes with regulatory functions were overrepresented; underlining that fruiting body formation relies on a complex signalling network. Notably, almost 40% of all genes with increased expression at different stages of development encoded hypothetical proteins indicating a large unexplored potential of proteins important for fruiting body formation. Keywords: Time course of development with 9 time points 3 biological replicates each; normalized ratios to vegetative cells of DK1622 (wt) Cy5

Project description:In response to starvation, Myxococcus xanthus initiates a developmental program that results in the formation of spore-filled multicellular fruiting bodies. Here we have used cDNA microarray analysis to determine changes in the global gene expression at different time points of the developmental process. The expression of nearly 900 genes was found to be altered at least two-fold during development as compared to vegetative cells. Genes encoding proteins with typical vegetative functions such as protein synthesis and energy metabolism were transcriptionally down-regulated in the early stages of development. Among the 430 genes transcriptionally up-regulated during development genes with regulatory functions were overrepresented; underlining that fruiting body formation relies on a complex signalling network. Notably, almost 40% of all genes with increased expression at different stages of development encoded hypothetical proteins indicating a large unexplored potential of proteins important for fruiting body formation. Keywords: Time course of development with 9 time points Overall design: 3 biological replicates each; normalized ratios to vegetative cells of DK1622 (wt) Cy5

Project description:Myxococcus xanthus is a gram negative rod-shaped delta proteobacterium that differentiates into environmentally resistant spores in response to starvation. Little is known about the sporulation mechanism in part because sporulation occurs in a subpopulation of cells undergoing a lenghtly complex multicellular developmental program. This developmental program requires a solid surface, motility, a minimum population density and a sophisticated network of inter and intra-cellular signals which direct some cells first to aggregate into multicellular fruiting bodies and then to sporulate exclusively within these fruiting bodies. However, it has previously been demonstrated that synchronous conversion of vegetative cells into myxospores can also be triggered in nutrient-rich liquid medium by addition of glycerol to 0.5 M. Here, we took advantage of the glycerol-induced sporulation process to gain information about the core M. xanthus sprorulation mechanism. We determined changes in the global gene expression at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 hours after glycerol induction compared to vegetative cells (wild-type DK1622). The expression of nearly 1,500 genes was found to be significantly altered at least two-fold within four hours of glycerol-induced development. Most of the known core sporulation marker genes were up-regulated, whereas most genes required for proper aggregation and fruiting body formation were not significantly regulated. Keywords: Time course of glycerol-induced (0.5 M final conc.) development with 4 time points referenced to vegetative cells 3 biological replicates each; normalized ratios to vegetative cells of DK1622 (wt) Cy3

Project description:Myxococcus xanthus is a gram negative rod-shaped delta proteobacterium that differentiates into environmentally resistant spores in response to starvation. Little is known about the sporulation mechanism in part because sporulation occurs in a subpopulation of cells undergoing a lenghtly complex multicellular developmental program. This developmental program requires a solid surface, motility, a minimum population density and a sophisticated network of inter and intra-cellular signals which direct some cells first to aggregate into multicellular fruiting bodies and then to sporulate exclusively within these fruiting bodies. However, it has previously been demonstrated that synchronous conversion of vegetative cells into myxospores can also be triggered in nutrient-rich liquid medium by addition of glycerol to 0.5 M. Here, we took advantage of the glycerol-induced sporulation process to gain information about the core M. xanthus sprorulation mechanism. We determined changes in the global gene expression at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 hours after glycerol induction compared to vegetative cells (wild-type DK1622). The expression of nearly 1,500 genes was found to be significantly altered at least two-fold within four hours of glycerol-induced development. Most of the known core sporulation marker genes were up-regulated, whereas most genes required for proper aggregation and fruiting body formation were not significantly regulated. Keywords: Time course of glycerol-induced (0.5 M final conc.) development with 4 time points referenced to vegetative cells Overall design: 3 biological replicates each; normalized ratios to vegetative cells of DK1622 (wt) Cy3

Project description:In response to starvation Myxococcus xanthus initiates a developmental program that culminates in the formation of fruiting bodies inside which the rod-shaped cells differentiate to spores. Fruiting body formation depends on intercellular communication and two intercellular signals are known, the A-signal and the C-signal. Five genes have been identified which are required for A-signal synthesis. To begin to understand the function of the genes required for A-signal synthesis, we have analysed gene expression in the asgA and the asgB mutant. Keywords: Vegetative cells of WT (DK1622) and AsgA mutant (DK5057) and AsgB mutant (DK4398) 3 biological replicates each; normalized ratios to vegetative cells of DK1622 (wt) Cy5

Project description:To identify CdbA binding sites on Myxococcus xanthus genome in vivo we performed ChIP-seq, using a polyclonal anti-FLAG antibody and a strain endogenously expressing CdbA_3xFLAG. A WT DK1622 strain was used a negative control and a strain endogenously expressing ParB_3xFLAG was used as positive control.